Three years ago, my dad took a DNA test to see if we could resolve the "who's-the-daddy" issue for our most distant Burris ancestor, William Burris, born about 1782 in North Carolina (we think North Carolina was his birth place, as our oral family history for the past four generations has told us that.)

When we got the results, Dad also consented to me entering his results in the Burris surname project at Family Tree DNA.From time to time, I get emails noting matches to Dad's DNA on 12, 25 or 37 markers. I have already identified two other men who have 37 marker matches to Dad, and have corresponded with them by email. It seems we are all stuck in the same generation with our earliest known Burris ancestor.

I think the guys back one more generation must have been brothers or first cousins.

Today I took a look at a new feature on FTDNA. The DNA test results maps for Dad.

12 marker matches

25 marker matches

37 marker matches

So what am I going to do with this information?

Starting with the 37 marker matches, I am going to contact one man - the one in Somerset England. The guy in Ireland has his information marked private, which irks me, because the main point of all this is to find relatives.